On December 14, 2010, Espada was indicted on six federal counts of embezzlement and theft; he was stripped of his leadership position in the State Senate the same day and left office in January 2011.

[5] In the late 1970s, Espada was a community organizer and educator in Harlem and the Lower East Side in Manhattan, and in the South Bronx.

He established and served as president of the Comprehensive Community Development Corporation and was the executive director of the Soundview Health Center.

By 1992, Soundview was offering medical and preventive care to 45,000 patients annually, and was also running a computer literacy program, serving lunch to hundreds of seniors daily and distributing surplus food.

[7] In 1988, Espada ran in the Democratic primary for the nomination in New York's 18th congressional district, which at the time covered the largely Hispanic and African American heart of the South Bronx, against incumbent Robert García.

[11] Espada was elected to represent the 32nd Senate District in the Southeast Bronx, which included the neighborhoods of Soundview, Hunts Point, Mott Haven and Parkchester.

[12] He had moved to a house overlooking the Long Island Sound, "located on a cul-de-sac in a lushly green and exclusive neighborhood, only 16 miles from the South Bronx," in Mamaroneck, in Westchester County, the year before he ran for the State Senate, in 1991, according to Westchester County real estate records, reported the Manhattan-based weekly.

When a reporter visited the house listed as the address for a car leased by the Medicaid-funded Comprehensive Community Development Corporation for the use of his wife, Connie, "Mr. Espada could be found lounging by the pool, dressed in a white tank-top and baby-blue shorts with a matching baseball cap.

[15] In their 2000 rematch, Espada wrested the Democratic nomination from Rosado, who was forced to defend his seat in the Senate on the Liberal and Working Families Party lines.

At that time, he owed in excess of $60,000 in fines to the New York City Campaign Finance Board related to races as far back as his 2001 run for Bronx Borough President.

I have not switched parties," and that his actions were intended to help end the "gridlock, paralysis, secretiveness, threats and partisan politics" that the Senate had experienced in the previous months and that he was not part of "a power grab or a coup" but was working to build a coalition to serve the needs of all New Yorkers with open and transparent government.

[33] In 2009, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo investigated Espada's use of the Soundview Health Clinic for personal political reasons.

[45] On April 24, 2010, Espada walked out of the taping of an interview with reporter Marcia Kramer of WCBS-TV after issues of his actual residence were revisited.

Espada got testy when Kramer reminded him that when she had approached him the previous year outside his Mamaroneck home, he donned an orange ski cap and held a baby in front of his face to hide from the camera before speeding off in a car driven by his wife.

[46] On April 29, 2010, Espada was hit with a civil lawsuit for allegedly pocketing $1.35 million in a sham job training program.

[47] During a later interview conducted by Diana Williams on WABC-TV, Espada's defense was characterized as turning personal against Andrew Cuomo.

[48][49][50] Several state senators—including fellow Democrats Neil Breslin, Darrel Aubertine, and David Valesky—called for Espada to step down from his Senate leadership positions.

[56] The New Roosevelt Initiative, an independent expenditure group led by Bill Samuels, pledged to donate $250,000 to a candidate who sought to defeat Espada.

They said Espada did not support party goals because he had joined with Republicans the previous summer in the power play that ground Senate business to a halt for a month.

According to Cuomo, the Espadas embezzled public money for personal use, including purchases of food, Broadway show tickets, and a down payment for a Bentley car.